- Joined
- Oct 25, 2004
- Messages
- 3,178
Anyone remember this Napoleon from Dan's DOTD's?
Thread.
I did not need a third sword of this type, but the poor thing had sat for over 24 hours with no takers and I didn't want Dan to have to eat that one. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it.) He warned me that this was an atypical Napoleon with very large dimensions. He wasn't kidding.
For those of you who don't own one of these, I'd classify them as smallswords if anything. The guards are primarily decorative. The tang can be full or hidden. All of mine are single edged and have a fuller running most of the length of the blade, just next to the spine. They're primarily thrusting swords.
None of mine feature differential hardening - instead, they seem to have a nice spring temper throughout. This works for me, especially with thinner blades like this. You can flex the blade quite a bit without it taking a set. Notice that I have to use my foot to do it on this one - the blade is quite a bit thicker than my other two.
Another advantage, for morons like me especially, is that if you manage to beat on the thing badly enough for it to take a set, it can be bent the other way to straighten it again. Kind of along the same lines, if you manage to nerf the edge up it's pretty easy to resharpen.
It balances out almost exactly 6.5" from the guard. The handle scales (nicely carved, by the way) are about 8" long with another 1" for the brass ferrule, leaving a handle just long enough to get two hands on if necessary.
It handled the lighter targets with no problems, one or two handed. Water filled 2 liter soda bottles are a bit much for it to cut through - sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't, and if it doesn't make it through both the sword and the wielder take a pretty good shock. It did well on cardboard shipping tubes although I felt more comfortable using it two-handed for this.
Then, of course, there's the plywood. The blade got quite warm from this but besides some scuffing and dirt, my flailing didn't cause any damage to the sword.
Meet Evil Mr. Watermelon:
Evil Mr. Watermelon was taking up too much space in my refridgerator and I was hungry. You can imagine what happened next.
I'm beginning to favor produce as a cutting target. Not only did the melon juice do a great job of cleaning up the blade, but the cleanup can be rewarding.
Thread.
I did not need a third sword of this type, but the poor thing had sat for over 24 hours with no takers and I didn't want Dan to have to eat that one. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it.) He warned me that this was an atypical Napoleon with very large dimensions. He wasn't kidding.
For those of you who don't own one of these, I'd classify them as smallswords if anything. The guards are primarily decorative. The tang can be full or hidden. All of mine are single edged and have a fuller running most of the length of the blade, just next to the spine. They're primarily thrusting swords.
None of mine feature differential hardening - instead, they seem to have a nice spring temper throughout. This works for me, especially with thinner blades like this. You can flex the blade quite a bit without it taking a set. Notice that I have to use my foot to do it on this one - the blade is quite a bit thicker than my other two.
Another advantage, for morons like me especially, is that if you manage to beat on the thing badly enough for it to take a set, it can be bent the other way to straighten it again. Kind of along the same lines, if you manage to nerf the edge up it's pretty easy to resharpen.
It balances out almost exactly 6.5" from the guard. The handle scales (nicely carved, by the way) are about 8" long with another 1" for the brass ferrule, leaving a handle just long enough to get two hands on if necessary.
It handled the lighter targets with no problems, one or two handed. Water filled 2 liter soda bottles are a bit much for it to cut through - sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't, and if it doesn't make it through both the sword and the wielder take a pretty good shock. It did well on cardboard shipping tubes although I felt more comfortable using it two-handed for this.
Then, of course, there's the plywood. The blade got quite warm from this but besides some scuffing and dirt, my flailing didn't cause any damage to the sword.
Meet Evil Mr. Watermelon:
Evil Mr. Watermelon was taking up too much space in my refridgerator and I was hungry. You can imagine what happened next.
I'm beginning to favor produce as a cutting target. Not only did the melon juice do a great job of cleaning up the blade, but the cleanup can be rewarding.
:grumpy: